Today's Wall Street Journal features an important piece on Princeton economist Alan Blinder (a former Vice-Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and a member of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers in the mid-1990s) and his evolving views on trade and globalization.
Here's the short version: Blinder is as convinced as ever that international trade rooted in national 
competitive advantages yields benefits for countries at a macro level and many firms and individuals at a micro level. But he's increasingly concerned about trade's effects on those who experience the inevitable dislocations created by cross-border flows of goods, people, capital, information, and services. (See imports and exports as a percentage of GDP in the chart to the right.)
Now, blue-collar concerns about the movement of industrial production to other countries is not exactly stop-the-presses news. Where Blinder is probably opening some eyes among the Journal's readership this morning is with his concern that 
millions of skilled white-collar workers may face the kind of dislocations typically associated with those employed in industries such as steel, autos, and textiles.
Naturally there's tremendous uncertainty about the sort of broad, long-term projections detailed in the table to the right. The point here, as Blinder would readily concede, is not that his numbers are exactly right. The point is that he's onto something important about the position of the United States--and many of its skilled, educated professionals--as globalization marches on.
Source
David Wessel and Bob Davis, "Pain From Free Trade Spurs Second Thoughts," Wall Street Journal (subscription only), March 27, 2007
Graphics courtesy Wall Street Journal